25-02-2010
Leipzig - Kurdish TV-station won its court cases Thursday against the German government, reports the German news agency DPA.
The German government tried to close the channel down on request of Turkey, but the tribunal in Leipzig effectively suspended the ban, asking the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to rule on the case instead. Roj TV is based in Denmark and Belgium.
Germany's Interior Ministry had earlier warned Roj TV it had no legal right to beam its satellite broadcasts down into the country because it backs the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
The tribunal said those allegations were valid - but it transpired Germany had no power under European Union law to interfere in operations of a broadcasting enterprise incorporated in Denmark.
Judges said EU broadcasting law meant that it was up to Denmark to supervise Roj, which means 'day' in the Kurdish language. Germany could only have shut down the channel if it had issued the broadcast licence in the first place.
